Abdirashid Ali Shermarke

Abdirashid Ali Shermarke (16 October 1919-15 October 1969) was Prime Minister of Somalia from 12 July 1960 to 14 June 1964 (succeeding Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal and preceding Abdirizak Haji Hussein) and President of Somalia from 10 June 1967 to 15 October 1969 (succeeding Aden Abdullah Osman Daar and preceding Sheikh Mukhtar Mohamed Hussein). After his assassination in 1969, Siad Barre would overthrow his acting successor and establish a Marxist regime.

Biography
Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was born on 16 October 1919 in Harardhere, Somalia, and he studied at Quranic schools. Abdirashid worked as a trader and a civil servant under Italian rule, and he obtained a bachelor of arts degree in political science from the Sapienza University of Rome after World War II. In 1959, after returning home from Italy, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly as the leader of the nationalist Somali Youth League, and he served as Prime Minister from 1960 to 1964 and as President from 1967 to 1969. In 1968, he survived an assassination attempt when a grenade was thrown at his car, but his bodyguard shot and killed him at his guesthouse on 15 October 1969 due to a personal dispute. The military took advantage of this to seize power the day after his funeral, with Siad Barre establishing a Marxist state.